


Treasure, Buttons, and Unplanned Concerts

by M3zzaTh3M3z



Series: Widdershins Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Widdershins (Webcomic)
Genre: Demisexual Character, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M3zzaTh3M3z/pseuds/M3zzaTh3M3z
Summary: Lately, Wolfe tags along when Ben runs errands, and for some reason Ben doesn't mind. (He knows why.)





	Treasure, Buttons, and Unplanned Concerts

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of wandered off from this one but I had fun on the way! Set at some indeterminate point, probably post Curtain Call but who knows :)
> 
> Prompt: I want to rob lumber mills and hospitals with you and just bewilder the hell out of people the way love should. (We will make everything wrong in the right way.)

In the year or so he’d lived in Widdershins, Ben had got used to the short walk to the grocer’s, setting out with a precise list in hand and returning with exactly what he had written down – no more or less. It helped clear his head after a stressful day. Except lately _somebody_ kept tagging along, and sneaking an extra packet of sweets into the carefully planned purchase, and chattering about everything under the sun, and making Ben’s head very unclear indeed.

“If you’re going to insist on carrying the bag, don’t swing it around,” he told Wolfe, who was humming absentmindedly as they made their way home. “You’ll break the eggs.”

Wolfe smiled guiltily, slowing his arm. “I am sure they are fine.”

The eggs weren’t the real problem. Between the humming and the bag swinging, Ben couldn’t stop watching Wolfe, but eventually he’d notice, and Ben _really_ didn’t want that, even though it was Wolfe’s fault for being distracting anyway. Wolfe was often distracting lately. Like when he brushed his fingers through his hair. Or smiled at Ben. Or stood really quite close, which Ben had got used to ignoring, until suddenly he couldn’t.

“Do you hear that?” Wolfe asked suddenly. The way he stood, head tilted to one side, was also distracting. “Music is playing. In the park, I think.”

“Shall we take a look?” Ben offered.

Wolfe’s eyes danced between the street home and the park, a small frown was forming. He was probably thinking of O’Malley, who’d been tasked with laying the fire for that evening but was just as likely to have wandered off after a malform. He’d be expecting them home soon. And once they were home he would bicker with Ben, and they’d all cook tea together, and maybe Wolfe would play his violin before bed, and it would be another normal evening.

Ben turned down the side street. “Come on. The park’s not far.”

One of Wolfe’s many smiles blossomed as he hurried to stick to Ben’s side. This one meant ‘surprised, but pleasantly so’, and for some reason always gave Ben a funny bubbly feeling when directed at him.

Oh, who was he fooling? He wasn’t stupid, he knew why. Knew why Wolfe was so distracting of late, why he didn’t object whenever he tagged along. Even the thought brought heat to his cheeks (thank goodness O’Malley wasn’t around, it was a miracle he hadn’t noticed already) but Ben couldn’t deny it. He was terribly, unfortunately, mortifyingly sweet on his strange and lovely colleague / housemate / friend, and had no idea what to do about it.

Other than, apparently, to leap upon any chance to extend their time together.

The park bustled with people settled on the grass, as a group of musicians performed something Ben had never heard. It had a strong beat, chased by lively violins, stirring up some emotion Ben wasn’t sure he could name. Perhaps it was a modern piece – it certainly didn’t sound like any classical music he knew.

“An open-air concert!” Wolfe exclaimed, already heading for the audience. “Shall we stay and listen?”

Ben looked at the crowd, the noisy children running around, the scruffy performers, and the damp grass certain to stain his clothes. And then he looked at Wolfe, lit up by his love of music. No contest. “That might be nice.”

As he followed Wolfe, Ben passed a girl selling programs, and hardly hesitated before buying one. “Here,” he said, handing it to Wolfe when he caught up again. “You might as well find out what’s going on.”

“Oh, thank you!” As Wolfe took the paper, their fingers brushed and he smiled. “Very kind.”

Ben’s heart skipped in a most undignified way, and he turned away under the guise of straightening his necktie. “We can sit here,” he muttered.

“We can sit on this,” Wolfe said, pulling off his coat and laying it on the grass with a flourish. “So you will not complain about the dirt. If we sit close, there will be room.”

There was, but only just. It was a good thing Ben wasn’t there for the music, with the way Wolfe’s leg kept bumping his he wouldn’t hear a note. “What does the program say?” he asked to distract from the distraction.

“Let us see.” Wolfe was an expressive reader (Ben found it strangely endearing) his face changing as though in conversation, from an interested tilt of the head to a smile to a raise of an eyebrow. “It explains the story the music is telling,” he said, finally looking up.

Ben tried to look like he hadn’t been watching the whole time. “O-oh?”

“It tells of two lovers - oh!” Wolfe held up a finger, nodding to the beat. “Did you hear that? The melody, and reply? That is them.”

Ben did not hear, but nodded anyway. “Right.”

“At first, they are poor, but honest. One turns to stealing to survive. Their sweetheart finds out, and they fear they will be angry. But rather, they are enchanted. From then on, they make a life of crime together, robbing the most wonderful places, of all things, from treasure to buttons, for fun. It is all very…”

“Romantic,” Ben finished, heart pounding. He might not hear the melody of the lovers like Wolfe, but the story gave him the same strange feeling the music did, a restless yearning coiling inside, urging him to _do_ something, and damn the consequences. _What_ exactly was unclear.

And there was that ‘pleasantly surprised’ smile again. Wolfe looked at Ben a long moment and he tried not to squirm. “You think so?” Leaning in, just enough for Ben to notice and forget everything else, Wolfe’s smile broadened to the one that meant trouble. (Ben tried to pretend this one wasn’t even more attractive.) “So at last our reserved Ben Thackerey reveals his tastes. How unexpected, that _you_ should wish to fall for a criminal!”

Ben turned away, adjusting his glasses so hopefully his hands would obscure some of his rising blush. “Hardly,” he snapped, though technically Wolfe did have a criminal record. He hadn’t _wanted_ to fall for him. Far too inconvenient. (Small mercy it hadn’t been O’Malley he supposed.) “Anyway, it’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?” Wolfe asked. He sounded genuinely interested. He always did, no matter the question.

“It’s the… recklessness? Doing something you would never normally, something nonsensical like stealing buttons… But with that one person it makes perfect sense,” Ben explained slowly. He’d never tried to put anything like this in words before, hadn’t even realised these were feelings he’d had. Wolfe had asked though, and he’d answered. “Bewildering to the rest of the world, but you’ve got your own little bubble of sense they can never understand.” Ben shifted, his hands bunching up fistfuls of coat. “Everyone always thinks I’m boring and uptight – don’t deny it,” he added when Wolfe looked indignant. “It’s true. But the idea of love making you brave, or foolish, or impulsive in a way others can only look at and wonder… There’s romance in that, to me.” Heat rushed to his face as he realised how ridiculous he sounded. “I mean –“

“That is a lovely idea,” Wolfe said softly. He shifted a little closer, and Ben briefly closed his eyes against the temptation to lean back into him. “Doing what you would not normally… Could – ah…” Wolfe cleared his throat. “Could, for example, attending an outdoor concert unplanned be a part of that?” Ben jerked his head around to find Wolfe smiling a little sheepishly, his cheeks reddening by the second.

It took Ben a second to get his mouth in working order. “I-It could be. Depending on – uh –“ He couldn’t get much further. It wasn’t _fair_ of Wolfe, putting him on the spot like this while looking so beautiful, and pressing up against his side like that, and – “Oh,” he said quietly as Wolfe took his hand. The brush of his thumb over his knuckles must have had some magic in it, because it shouldn’t have sent shivers through him the way it did. “Um. Yes, actually.”

Wolfe smiled again, and this was a whole new one, just for him, more lovely than all the rest. “I had hoped so,” he said, and Ben didn’t try to pretend anything as he smiled shyly back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope that was enjoyable because I ended up having a lot of fun ^_^  
fun fact my first widdershins fic was nearly ben/wolfe but my boyfriend wanted wolfe/florrie so I wrote that instead :')  
I wasn't entirely sure how to approach their dynamic (they don't interact a whole lot directly but I hope they do more next book!) so would be cool to hear what people think :)  
thanks for reading! <3


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